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The 8th Hack3rCon and 3rd SecureWV cyber security conference is this Friday November 17th through Sunday November 19th at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in South Charleston. The event is run by 304 Geek.

The event will have three rooms of speakers and classes: Speakers track for “normal” talks and presentations, Teachers track for those new to InfoSec, Forensics track partnering with Marshall University Digital Forensics department. Plus a room of Villages this year: Hardware Hacking Village sponsored by SME Inc., Voting Machine Hacking Village, Lockpick Village. There will also be a Capture The Flag area and Amateur Radio Technician Test given on Sunday. Panels include such topics as ransomware, Python scripting, WireShark, BASH scripting, network forensics, and more general IT and technical discussions. During the evening they will have a PGP Key Signing Party and karaoke to take part in.

This year’s Keynote Speaker is Information Systems Security Association Hall of Fame award winner Ira Winkler. Ira is the President of Secure Mentem, author of Advanced Persistent Security, and co-host of The Irai Report. He is one of the world’s most influential security professionals and engages in espionage simulations for companies all over the world. He will give different talks on Friday and Saturday about fighting Advanced Persistent Threats and Learning From Failure.

There are also plans to stream Speakers talks on the Internet via IronGeek.

Registration to attend is $50 or $35 for students with valid IDs, both high school and college level attendees. You can also pre-order t-shirts.

If you have an interest or job in computers, hacking, and security; this is something you should try to make it too. A much more formal event than what I usually post about, but a great chance to learn and connect with others.

This Saturday November 4th two different cons will both be running in Charleston to raise money for charity.

At the Capital City Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police in Charleston will hold this year’s Extra Life Con, a board game convention to raise money for WVU Children Hospital. The event goes from 11am to 11pm and is part of the Extra Life charity Game Day.

From 2pm to 8pm there will be raffles for over a dozen donated prizes; such as board games and two passes to the Lock & Coded Escape Rooms. Entry to the event comes with five free tickets and you can buy more for $1 each.

There will be pods of Magic Commander, with free booster packs given out, through out the day as they get enough people. No extra fee to play. A tournament table will be set up with different games you can join for $2. Winners will receive an extra ten raffle tickets. Games will be played as they fill up.

The board game library from CharCon will have around fifty games for anyone to try and play. Donate old games and buy news ones, with the money going to the WVU Children’s Hospital.

Entry to the event is $25.

Mountain State Pop Expo will be at the South Charleston Holiday Inn and Suites both Saturday and Sunday. It is a celebration of fandom and a benefit for the Children’s Home Society of WV. The vendor room is open from 10am to 6pm with events in the panel rooms going even later.

Set up will be artists, writers, cosplayers, comic and toy dealers, the 501st, nerdy craft makers, video games, video production companies, Ghostbusters, table-top games, and more fun stuff to buy.

There will be a performance from Final Form Fusion belly-dancing, a cosplay contest, raffle prizes, and panels (including one on Nerd Music from myself).

Tickets are $10 for one day or $15 for both.

Either event looks like fun and helps out a good cause. In fact you could do both if you really wanted.

The event brings companies, speakers, programmers, artists, players together from around West Virginia and surrounding states to learn about the filed of video gaming development in professional and passionate environment.

Other guests are cosplay band Eien Strife, professional panelists Vitamin H Productions, The Carolina Manga Library, Japanese arcade machines from Tokyo Attack, foam weapon combat group Sleeping Samurai, game show host Greg Wicker, and pachinko machines from Pachinko Fever.

They will have all the standard anime con events: panels for learn and/or fun, cosplay contests, rave, artist alley, vendor room with a kinds of goods, cosplayers, autographs, game shows, masquerade ball, concerts, viewing rooms, guests Q&A, AMV League, maid café, and plenty of chances to meet fellow fans. There will also be areas, tournaments, meet-ups, and more for video gaming, pachinko machines, mobile video and phone gaming, collectible card gaming, Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Warhammer and other war miniature games, and a board game library from the Huntington Unplugged Gaming Society.

Convention Registration is $45 for a weekend badge, $30 for Friday only, $40 Saturday only, and $20 for Sunday only. Children between 8-12 badges are $20 for the weekend. Children under seven get in free. They also have a gaming wristband that only that only allows you into the gaming area of the con for $35 for the weekend. Single day gaming wristbands available too.

The con is great for fans of anime, cosplay, table-top and video gaming, and a bit of general nerdery. It is I think the most varied and diverse cons in the state. Though sometime loud, crowded, and full of young people having fun. I am not a big fan of “fun.”

Crooked Letter Creative and the Astral Theatre Collective will be performing their new work “Carmilla” based on the horror classic by J. Sheridan LeFanu at the WVU Parkersburg theater at 8pm the same day. The show is $15.

Admission for the con is only $5 and children ten and under get in free with an adult.

Nice little some event with several different genres covered and people to see and meet.

Music acts for this year are the Renfields, the Jasons, Black Hole Zion, Captain Catfeesh, and Ghost Road.

Events over the will include CharCon Gaming, a Scavenger Hunt, game shows, crafting workshops on crafting and creating, Drink and Paint, panels on cosplay, film making, cryptozoology plus more, guests Q&As, performances on stage from 8pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday, scream contest, Kid’s Day on Sunday, costume contest on Saturday with $10 entry fee (half goes to the winner, half to charity), and plenty more to keep you entertained. The after party, Aftershock, will be at the Blue Parrot on Friday and Saturday starting at midnight.

Not much is known on vendors except some horror related hand-made creations for sale.

Ticket pre-orders are closed but can still be bought at the door. $45 for weekend pass, $15 for Friday or Sunday only, and $25 for Saturday only. Children six and under get in free.

The Tri-State retro video game convention Power Up returns this Saturday September 2nd from 11am to 7pm at the Conference Center of the Big Sandy Arena in Huntington.

Plenty of vendors selling old and new video games, consoles, ROM Hacks, peripherals, homebrew games to buy or test, and more. Extra Life Game Repair will be on hand to repair anything you need help with; part of the proceeds from repairs will go the Children’s Hospital at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Plus vendors and exhibitors selling comics, figures, art, buttons, patches, card games, cosplay prints, plush, and other creations and items to buy. Joe’s Magical Foundation will have a photo booth with special background images to create custom pictures. They will be donating their money to charity as well. And look out for tables doing give aways.

Besides just a room full of video games to play, there will be a Super Smash Bro tournament for a $50 gift card at noon. Various other mini tournaments in different genres will pop up through out the day to get in on. They also have Pokémon Gym Leaders for 3v3 battles to win badges.

There will be a Power Down room to get away from all the action. The Huntington Unplugged Gaming Society will have board games to try, Hometown Hobbies will be running a Magic: The Gathering modern format tournament for a $100 gift card, Pokémon TCG tournaments, video game trivia with Electric Tapes, and Final Form Fusion will be doing some belly dancing at noon,

Admission is $5 and free for kids twelve and under. This year’s t-shirts will be available for $20. Leftovers from previous year’s will be $15.

Fans for video gaming will want to go to this. Great shopping and people to meet.